However, Susan Brown, a professor [emerita] of sociology at the University of California, Irvine, who studied the effects of restrictions on race-related admission in Washington state after a ban approved by voters in 1998, argued the decision reduced overall demand for higher education by minority students. Affirmative action had the effect of making students feel they belonged,” she said. “Taking it away was like pulling the rug out. I’d always assumed affirmative action worked at the level of acceptances, but after the ban, students didn’t apply even though a lot were strong and would have got in.” 

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